Content Area(s): Life Science Topic: Impact of musical training on hearing loss Short description: Long-term experience with complex sounds, including singing or playing a musical instrument, could have an impact on how our nervous system functions. A recent study indicates that older adults with musical training can overcome, in part, some age-related hearing loss.
Claim: Music training might help overcome age-related hearing loss in older adults.
Keywords: nervous system, hearing loss Difficulty of Concept: Hard
MS-ETS1 Engineering Design
MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
Common Core State Standards Connections:
ELA/Literacy
RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations descriptions.
RST.6-8.8 Distinguish among facts and reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.
WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
WHST.6-8.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational text to support analysis, reflection and research.
SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions(one-on-one, in groups, teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
The brain can be trained to overcome, in part, some age-related hearing loss in those with music training, U.S. researchers suggest. Neuroscientist Nina Kraus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with music training.
Researchers measured the automatic neural responses of 87 normal-hearing, native English-speaking adults to speech sounds delivered to them as they watched a captioned video. Musician participants had begun music training before age 9 and engaged consistently in music activities through their lives, while non-musicians had three years or less of music training, Kraus said.
Measuring the automatic brain responses of younger and older musicians and non-musicians to speech sounds, researchers in the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory discovered older musicians had a distinct neural timing advantage, Kraus said.
However, Kraus warned, the study's findings were not pervasive and do not demonstrate that musicians have a neural timing advantage in every neural response to sound. "Instead, this study showed that music experience selectively affected the timing of sound elements that are important in distinguishing one consonant from another," Kraus said.
Title: Music and Hearing Loss
Content Area(s): Life ScienceTopic: Impact of musical training on hearing loss
Short description: Long-term experience with complex sounds, including singing or playing a musical instrument, could have an impact on how our nervous system functions. A recent study indicates that older adults with musical training can overcome, in part, some age-related hearing loss.
Claim: Music training might help overcome age-related hearing loss in older adults.
Keywords: nervous system, hearing loss
Difficulty of Concept: Hard
Reading Level (Pit Stop 8 Article):
Flesch Reading Ease: 22.2Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 16.7
Lexile: 1540
Next Generation Science Standards:
MS-ETS1 Engineering DesignMS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
Common Core State Standards Connections:
ELA/LiteracyRST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations descriptions.
RST.6-8.8 Distinguish among facts and reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.
WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
WHST.6-8.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational text to support analysis, reflection and research.
SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions(one-on-one, in groups, teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Vocabulary Words: neuroscientist, neural response, acoustic
Topic of Game Introduction Video: Poor Arguments
Link to Game Introduction Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqLmPWCzvQ8
Full Text of Article:
The brain can be trained to overcome, in part, some age-related hearing loss in those with music training, U.S. researchers suggest. Neuroscientist Nina Kraus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with music training.Researchers measured the automatic neural responses of 87 normal-hearing, native English-speaking adults to speech sounds delivered to them as they watched a captioned video. Musician participants had begun music training before age 9 and engaged consistently in music activities through their lives, while non-musicians had three years or less of music training, Kraus said.
Measuring the automatic brain responses of younger and older musicians and non-musicians to speech sounds, researchers in the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory discovered older musicians had a distinct neural timing advantage, Kraus said.
However, Kraus warned, the study's findings were not pervasive and do not demonstrate that musicians have a neural timing advantage in every neural response to sound. "Instead, this study showed that music experience selectively affected the timing of sound elements that are important in distinguishing one consonant from another," Kraus said.
References/Sources:
Additional Content:
Author: Cindy Wilbur